Smartphone-Based Recognition of Heart Failure by Means of Microelectromechanical Sensors

Abstract

Background: Heart failure (HF) is the leading cause of hospitalization in individuals over 65 years of age. Identifying noninvasive methods to detect HF may address the epidemic of HF. Seismocardiography which measures cardiac vibrations transmitted to the chest wall has recently emerged as a promising technology to detect HF.

Objectives: In this multicenter study, the authors examined whether seismocardiography using commercially available smartphones can differentiate control subjects from patients with stage C HF.

Methods: Both inpatients and outpatients with HF were enrolled from Finland and the United States. Inpatients with HF were assessed within 2 days of admission, and outpatients were assessed in the ambulatory setting. In a prespecified pooled data analysis, algorithms were derived using logistic regression and then validated using a bootstrap aggregation method.

Results: A total of 217 participants with HF (174 inpatients and 172 outpatients) and 786 control subjects from cardiovascular clinics were enrolled. The mean age of participants with acute HF was 64 ± 13 years, 64.9% were male, left ventricular ejection fraction was 39 ± 15%, and median N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide was 5,778 ng/L (Q1-Q3: 1,933-6,703). The majority (74%) of participants with HF had reduced EF, and 38% had atrial fibrillation. Across both HF cohorts, the algorithms had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.95 with a sensitivity of 85%, specificity of 90%, and accuracy of 89% for the detection of HF, with a decision threshold of 0.5. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were 8.50 and 0.17, respectively. The accuracy of the algorithms was not significantly different in subgroups based on age, sex, body mass index, and atrial fibrillation.

Conclusions: Smartphone-based assessment of cardiac function using seismocardiography is feasible and differentiates patients with HF from control subjects with high diagnostic accuracy. (Recognition of Heart Failure With Micro Electro-mechanical Sensors FI [NCT04444583]; Recognition of Heart Failure With Micro Electro-mechanical Sensors [NCT04378179]; Detection of Coronary Artery Disease With Micro Electro-mechanical Sensors [NCT04290091]).

Keywords: diagnostics; digital biomarker; heart failure; microelectromechanical sensors; sensors; smartphone.